Islamic Finance OJK 2015

Global Islamic finance has been growing rapidly in recent years, with 10%-12% growth annually. According to a World Bank report, the global Islamic finance industry reached approximately USD 2.1 trillion in 2014, witnessing double-digit growth across all sectors of the Islamic financial services industry.

However, despite its rapid growth, Islamic finance's contribution to the global economy has not been very considerable.

On the other hand, infrastructure development is an essential driver for economic growth. A well-designed infrastructure program has long-term economic benefits as they can raise economic growth, productivity and create other positive impacts. Islamic finance has strong potentials to support infrastructure programs, such as in Indonesia. However, those good potentials of Islamic finance in the infrastructure financing have not been earnestly explored.

Another World Bank report on infrastructure stated that developing countries spend about $1 trillion a year on infrastructure. As such, an additional $1-1.5 trillion will be needed by Indonesia through 2020 for projects such as water, power and transportation. Given the huge potential of Islamic finance, it is therefore timely to increase the role of Islamic finance in the infrastructure financing, whether through sukuk issuance, Islamic banking financing, or other appropriate scheme for infrastructure.

OJK urges the Islamic finance industry to unleash its potential, particularly in supporting infrastructure projects that the developing countries need most. It is also believed that, in doing so, Islamic finance's role will be more paramount in both domestic and global level as its contribution to the global economic growth largely increased.

Taken those issues into consideration, this upcoming OJK International Conference: "Islamic Infrastructure Financing: Unleashing Islamic Finance Potential" is aimed to discuss the potentials of Islamic finance, and to find ways to effectively unlock those potentials, particularly in the nuance of infrastructure financing.

It is expected that through the exchange of knowledge and experiences among prominent experts and experienced industry players, these hidden potentials could be unleashed, challenges could be addressed and successful stories could be replicated in countries in dire need of infrastructure development.

II. Total Participant

The total estimated participants who will attend the conference is about 300 people; consist of industry players, experts, scholars, researchers, government officials and other-stakeholders.